Stepping Out!

This morning I ventured out. There were some things I knew I needed to buy (or rather… I guess… wanted to buy… ) and the hotel is way not a shopping mecca.

There is a mall 3 long blocks from the hotel. It is a beautiful day. Warm… sunny… a light breeze… beautiful… I could have hailed a cab, probably. I could have gotten the hotel to get me one of their cars. But I knew where (basically) the mall was and I had about half an hour to get there before the mall opened.

I know that many people (especially of the chick variety) would not have made the venture on foot. I was talking to people on the project I’m working on now (half a hemisphere away from home) and it was kind of a commonality that many people would just not opt for venturing out of the hotel alone, let alone alone on foot.

So, this morning I threw caution to the wind (technically not true, but it sounds wonderful) and walked to the mall. I was kind of hoping for something fascinating. It was a mall. There were stores I recognized (Radio Shack) and ones that I didn’t. It was a mall.

Here, when they say that the mall opens at 10 am, there is a LINE out front waiting for the big glass doors to the building to open. They open at 10 am. So I sat on the low wall outside the mall and watched people.

They shut one half of the big street that connects the hotel to the mall (and continues on in both directions) to traffic and they open it up to bicycles and pedestrians. The picture on this post was one I actually got the privilege to take. The dog’s back legs are in a pocket on his backpack and he’s just hanging there. If I hadn’t been at the mall, I wouldn’t have seen him. If I wouldn’t have been alone, I probably wouldn’t have noticed him. If I would have taken a car, I probably wouldn’t have even have left the hotel by the time I took this.

It’s all a matter of stepping out, stepping up, and taking the chance.

And…

if you find something that really really speaks to you, don’t be afraid to show your colors…